A chartered bus arrived in south suburban Manhattan the night of Dec. 21, and dropped off dozens of people in the parking lot of a Metra station without providing warning or more information about the individuals’ arrival, the Police Department and Mayor Mike Adrieansen said.
These individuals, presumed to be just some of the over 20,000 Venezuelan migrants who have arrived in Illinois over the past year in buses mostly from Texas, were among the first to arrive in the south and southwest suburbs. Almost all of the migrants have previously been dropped off in downtown Chicago.
When police drove by the Metra station and saw the migrants in the parking lot, they asked them what they were doing in Manhattan as the town had received no warning about their arrival, Adrieansen said. The migrants responded they were trying to get to Chicago.
“We just don’t have the resources to provide for individuals,” said Adrieansen. “So, the best thing we can do now if they were to arrive unscheduled, our officers would direct them to Chicago where there is a lot more resources for individuals.”
A spokesperson for the town clarified that Manhattan has no hotels to house large numbers of people or proper triage centers to meet medical needs.
University Park and Lockport have also received buses dropping off migrants. The lack of resources in these towns have caused the leadership of many south and southwest suburbs issue executive orders or enact ordinances to handle the possibility of more buses. University Park and Tinley Park now require bus operators to communicate with the towns if buses are planned for arrival or face fines.
“We were never actually made aware of the situation as far as us being notified that they were going to end up in Lockport,” said police Chief Ron Harang. “The buses just showed up and dropped off some of the migrants.”
Lockport also had a busload of migrants dropped off at its Metra station Dec. 21, Harang said. Had they been notified of the drop-off plans, Lockport could have coordinated with the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications to ensure the migrants arrived in the city at a place where they could receive the proper services, Harang said.
Daily Southtown
Twice-weekly
News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday
“We had to actually find a method of transportation ourselves to get them from the city of Lockport to the city of Chicago,” he said.
Lockport has an executive order that goes into place next week which focuses on ensuring there is communication between the leadership sending the buses and Lockport so the community can be best prepared if any more buses come, he said.
“I think that the federal government and the state need to step up and … help out these surrounding towns, villages and cities,” he said.
The Manhattan Village Board will consider an ordinance Jan. 3 that would, among other things, would allow the police chief to seek criminal charges against operators of unscheduled buses and issue a fine of $750 per person dropped off.
“The executive order gives our police a little police power to enforce it if (migrants) are unscheduled, just dropped off,” said Adrieansen.
Adrieansen said Will County officials are scheduled to meet with Manhattan leadership to discuss plans for handling migrant buses headed to the south suburbs.